Assessment of Urban Public Spaces’ Impact on Mental Health within the Framework of Women-Friendly City Criteria(Case Study:Ardabil City

Nasiri, Parya; Mohammadi, Alireza; Rahmati, Mansour; Ghafari Gilande, Ata

Assessment of Urban Public Spaces’ Impact on Mental Health within the Framework of Women-Friendly City Criteria(Case Study:Ardabil City

Document Type : Article extracted from thesis

Authors

Parya Nasiri ¹ ^¶

Alireza Mohammadi ²

Mansour Rahmati ³

Ata Ghafari Gilande ²

¹ PhD Student of Geography and Urban Planning, Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Social Sciences University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

² Professor of Geography and Urban Planning, Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Social Sciences University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

³ Associate Professor of Geography and Urban Planning, Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Social Sciences University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil,Iran

Abstract

Background and Objective : Women’s mental health, as one of the essential dimensions of public health, is influenced by various factors, including the quality and accessibility of urban public spaces. This study aimed to analyze the impact of urban public spaces on women’s mental health in Ardabil within the framework of women-friendly city indicators.
Methodology: This applied research adopted a descriptive–analytical approach. The required data were collected through the distribution of 400 questionnaires among women residing in Ardabil, using a systematic random sampling method. The research tool included 58 items covering five main indicators (physical–spatial, socio–cultural, safety, accessibility, and mental health). Data were analyzed using the one-sample t-test in SPSS software and structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS software.
Findings and Conclusion: The results showed that the physical–spatial (mean = 3.17) and socio-cultural (mean = 3.05) indicators were in a relatively favorable condition. Moreover, based on the path analysis results, the physical–spatial indicator had the greatest role in enhancing women’s mental health, with an impact coefficient of 0.89. Following this, the indicators of environmental security, socio-cultural, accessibility, and mental health ranked next in terms of influence. These findings emphasize the importance of designing public spaces with a focus on physical and environmental components to promote women’s mental health and highlight the necessity for urban planners to pay attention to these dimensions. The innovation of this research lies in the simultaneous analysis of five key women-friendly city indicators using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and focusing on the city of Ardabil as a localized case, which has received less attention in previous studies.

Keywords

Women&‌‌rsquo

s quality of life

inclusive urban spaces

spatial justice

social interactions in the city

Ardabil city

Subjects

Urban Planning

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